Transport:

We have read about the importance of transport and forms of transport. Here we
give you the specific functions of a tour operator in relation to organization and
conduct of tours.
Air: This requires coordination with Travel agencies and airlines, International or
domestic, for flight reservations. In a large country it becomes one of the important
mode of convenience ant to save time.
There are some special services airlines offer for tourists such as Indian
airlines who offer confirmation of flights on any sector for groups if reservation is
made 60days in advance and for individuals 30days in advance.
It is important to reconfirm all flights in all cities where the break of journey is
more than 72 hours ahead of the journey. It is therefore the responsibility of the
tour operator/Excursion agent to reconfirm the flight.

Railways: Indian railway network is extensive .With this one is able to travel to
remote part of the country with relative comfort. They offer computerized
reservations. The railways offer facilities for yatri niwas, retiring rooms, dining
rooms, etc as well. Indian railways, In order to promote tourism, offer special fares.
For eg, Indrail passes enable foreign tourists to enjoy unlimited travel on Indian
trains within the period of their validity. They are exempted from paying reservation
fees, sleeper charges and supplementary charges for travel on superfast trains or
meals. They also offer special itineraries.

Railways run special trains in special tourist sectors to meet the demand like the Taj
express.
There are many types of accommodation in trains like:
-1AC SLEEPER,
-2AC SLEEPER,
-AC CHAIR CAR,
-FIRST CLASS,
-SECOND CLASS SLEEPER, etc.

For group travel tourist cars are available in all categories and their haulage
programs by regular trains can be made to suit the convenience of the group. Rail
journey is also an interesting experience.
Road Transport: There are specially registered vehicles as tourists cars and
coaches with special requirements and permits to operate. for eg in Delhi a DLT taxi
is the normal city taxi service which cannot operate beyond the Delhi borders .A
DLY has the permit for interstate travel whereas a DLZ is an imported car to cater to
tourists only.
Similarly, today there are many types of tourists coaches like for 8 seats,12
seats,15seats,18seats,30seats and 55 seats etc.
Unlike in your private vehicle where you do not need to stop at interstate border.
The tourist vehicles, since they are commercial vehicles, are required to pay road
tax each time they visit another state. They travel on a permit which contains the
passenger names, sex and age, the route they intend to follow and the duration of
their journey. They are supposed to follow the route.
Based on the permit each state charges taxes. There are different systems in each
state. Some charge on mileage covered in that state, some on the no of days in the
state while others on the total duration of the tour immaterial of the distance or the
journey on the tour.
For the smoother tourist flow at the interstate tourist border, the government has
come out with a regional permit.

Water: There is not much use of water transport in tourism industry in

India except to ferry across the river, travel from airport to island hotel al
Lakshadweep or Andaman’s or a journey in backwaters of Kerala or in adventure
sporting activity, etc. In some places it is used for sightseeing trips like going to
elephant caves near Bombay. Though the cruise industry is doing very well in the
western world in India it is not that popular and few companies like the travel
corporation (India) have ventured into this area.

PACKAGE TOURS:

A program developed to cater to a group of people travelling together for a

particular journey which involves hotel and transport arrangements and may also
involve visit to places, guides, special meetings and functions is called a package
tour. Package tours are also defined through their:
-destination and
-interest.

Among the destination would be:

1) Single country tour,
2) Area tour i.e. visiting more than one country,
3) Two city tour,
4) Single city tour, etc

From the interest point of view most common in India are cultural tours i.e. people
visiting cultural sites in India. Quite often it is the historic sites such as Red Fort, Taj
Mahal. temples and palaces for which itineraries are made.
Though majority of tourist travel in India is to historical sites of India, a large no of
travelers are looking at new types of travel i.e. something that interest s them
more. This has initiated development of special interest tours.
Special interest tours are developed with a particular theme in mind. It could be
visiting mughal architecture, gardens of India, textile centers of India. Gourmet tour
–learning about various kind of food in India, Rail tours-travel by different types of
railway system specially steam locomotives, Darjeeling toy train, palace on
wheels.etc.
Tours that deal with adventure activities are called adventure tours. These include
packaging tours for trekking, mountaineering, river rafting, canoeing, kayaking,
boat cruises, visiting remote areas such as tribal areas, island exploration, wildlife
safaris, camel safari, elephant safari, horse safari, walking safari. Cycling safari,
jeep safari, camping safari, gliding and para gliding, etc.
Another very important aspect of tourism now is sports tours. Golf tours are being
promoted very enthusiastically while there are others like polo and car racing,
which are also coming up. Tours are being packaged to coincide with sports events
such as cricket, hockey or football matches. This is another very popular form of
tourism that is coming up. A similar situation is in relation to fairs and festivals as
primary or secondary attractions.
Quite often companies offer incentives to their dealers or employees such as
additional payments, gifts of some kind or a holiday. The holiday incentive is
becoming increasingly popular. This is often a large group movement which may
vary from 10 to 500 people. Known as incentive tours, they are normally of short
duration but are expensive. In such tour special attention needs to be paid on:
-size of movement,
-cuisine,
-theme parties,
-gifts,
-baggage handling,
-promotion and information material.
Whenever there is a conference in a country it brings large no of people together
(convention tourism).
This requires organization with special skills. Tour operator assist in:
-initial organization,
-marketing the conference so that more people participate and
-conference arrangements of hotels and transport.

Apart from this another aspect is pre and post conference tours.
Special attention needs to be paid on the following aspects:
-marketing a conference,
-conference secretarial help,
-hotels,
-transport,
-pre and post conference tour,
-special events,
-size of volunteer forces,
-entertainment,
-conference facilitation like registration, interpreters, etc.

Some tour operator also charter aircraft to bring in tourist from a country. The fares
of the charters are low which enable many people who are not able to afford
expensive air tickets on scheduled airlines to travel. The charter is large volume
travel and requires hotel, transport and tour commencing from charter destination.
There are luxury cruises that travel around the world or in some part of the tour.
They are normally expensive, demanding high quality and high volume.

PLANNING A TOUR:

For tour operator, while working on a tour programme, it is important to consider

the following matter;
1) Interest: Interest of the person for whom you are planning the tour is most
important-Planner must know if the theme is sightseeing, cultural, religious,
historical, architectural, wildlife, trekking, adventure sport or leisure, etc.
2) Time of visit: when the person wishes to visit. This is important for season,
flights, tariffs, etc.
 3) Duration: Duration of the tour is important. This helps plan the tour
including areas to be visited, shopping, entertainment. etc.
4) Place: This is important as different nationalities and different age groups
like to move differently. Some like to spend one day at each place while
others like to spend 2-3 days or even more.
5) Budget: This is important as it will determine the quality of hotels, the
amount of travel and activity and other variables-meals, special party,
theatre or shows, special visits, etc.

Once we know the above parameters we need to find out:

1) The proposed point of visit, their location and accessibility by road, train and
flights.
2) Facilities available i.e. types of hotels, local transport, local agent.
Telephones.etc.
3) Entrance formalities ant other rules.
4) Any permits if required and who will issue and what are the requirements.
5) Any holidays during the period of the tour, since it may happen that the place
of visit may be closed in that day, eg, like most museums are closed on
Mondays.
6) Fairs and festivals. This always adds to increasing the possibility of value to
the tour. For eg,
Goa carnival, holi, etc
7) Any special event taking place which can be included to enhance the
usefulness of the visit like book fair, handloom exhibition or special crafts
mela.
8) About the time of operation i.e. what is the season and any problem with it
such as heat, snow, floods, etc. One should also see if accessibility is there
because for eg a few important national parks are closed for 3-5 months in a
year and ladakh cannot be accessed by road except between July and
September, etc.
9) The time taken to travel. It is variable depending on the road condition. For
eg a 100km drive may take in Gujarat 1.15hrs,in Rajasthan 1.45hrs,in
Madhya Pradesh 2hrs and Himachal Pradesh 3hrs. The type of transport will
also determine the travel time since a bus is 20-25% slower.
10) The time required to visit a monument, temple, national park or a
particular event and the timings.
11) The availability of guides and what language can they speak.
12) The details of shopping, etc.

COSTING A TOUR

For everyone who is buying a tour, it is important what the cost is going to be.
Similarly for a tour operator, it is important to analyze how much profit can be made
over the cost.

The cost will depend on:

• Duration of the tour.
• Transport type-air conditioned or non air conditioned, cars jeeps, mini coach
or large coach, charter of boat or seat in a boat, etc, air travel or train travel.
 • No of persons travelling together.
• Category of hotels required.
• Types of rooms required.
• Types of service required-all meals or part of meals.
• Excursion or sightseeing required.
• Time of operations-change of tariffs, peak season or off season rates will be
applicable.
• Guides and their allowances and expenses.

MARKETING MATERIAL

A tour operator has to prepare marketing material for selling the product. This has
to be well thought and carefully planned. This will reflect the image of the company
and your professionalism. This is done in various ways:
• Providing updated information on the destination,
• Printing tour brochures and confidential tariffs,
• Preparing good itineraries,
• Manuals and other reference materials of help,
• Time tables,
• Video cassettes,
• Slide presentations,
• Special shows,
• Familiarization visits.

One has to correspond with prospective clients or sponsors of group tours.